Florida‘s population crossed the 23million residents mark for the first time this year due to the influx of people moving from other states.

As of April 1 of this year, the Sunshine State had 23,002,597 residents, according to estimates released this month by the state Demographic Estimating Conference.

It is the third most populous state in the US, trailing only California‘s 39.5 million residents and Texas‘ 30.5 million inhabitants. 

Florida added almost 359,000 people last year and has been adding about 350,000 to 375,000 people each year this decade, according to the estimates.

The population growth is expected to peak this year and get smaller with each following year for the rest of the 2020s as the final cohort of baby boomers entering retirement gets smaller, according to the estimates.

By the early 2030s, Florida’s growth rate will be under 1 percent after hitting an expected 1.6% this year.

Since a little bit before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020, all of Florida’s growth has come from people moving to the Sunshine State from other parts of the United States or abroad. 

Deaths have outpaced births in Florida since late 2019 and early 2020, and that trend is predicted to continue well into the next decade.

Almost 10 percent of Florida’s residents are age 75 and older, second only to Puerto Rico among US states and the territory.

Other Republican southern states also saw major population booms over 2023, while northern liberal states saw their losses offset by an influx of migrants. 

The country’s population grew by 1.6million over the last year, bringing the nation’s total to 334.9 million. 

The growth was mostly driven by southern states, with 87 percent of the increase coming from just Texas, Florida and South Carolina, according to new Census Bureau numbers.

Amid the migrant crisis at the border, Texas saw the biggest increase nationwide between July 2022 and July 2023, with nearly half a million new residents. 

The Lone Star state was followed by Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and Tennessee, which also saw outmigration from other states in the country.

‘The growth in 2023 can largely be attributed to the region’s migration patterns as 706,266 people were added via net domestic migration, while net international migration contributed almost 500,000 to the total,’ the report explained.

Eight states, including New York, California and Illinois, saw populations decline, as many have fled liberal cities because of high taxes and cost of living.

In just one year, California lost 338,371 residents to other states, while New York state lost 216,778 and Illinois 83,839.

Those losses have been offset by new tens of thousands of new migrants who have moved north after crossing the US-Mexico border to cities like Chicago and NYC.

However, the states still saw their overall populations decline due to the massive exodus of former residents to other states.